The BBC is still under the influence of Stonewall, John Humphrys has suggested, as he threw his weight behind Justin Webb in a row over the Today presenter calling a trans woman “male”.
Humphrys, a former Today presenter himself, said that despite the broadcaster formally cutting ties with the lobby group, he suspected the organisation “still has rather more influence within the BBC than it does in the outside world”.
As reported in the Telegraph, the veteran journalist was responding to outrage over an internal investigation into Justin Webb for using the phrase on Today last year: “trans women, in other words male”.
Web had been discussing new rules banning transgender competitors from taking part in women’s international chess tournaments when he used the phrase.
A zealous listener then complained that the comment amounted to Mr Webb giving his personal view on a controversial matter in breach of the BBC’s requirements on impartiality. Following an investigation, the BBC’s editorial complaints unit (ECU) agreed, saying it “gave the impression of endorsing one viewpoint in a highly controversial area”.
Gender-critical activists who believe that sex is biological have accused the public service broadcaster of falling short in its impartiality obligations.
On Wednesday Mr Davie told MPs he had received only a “handful of emails” on the matter.
He added that controversy over trans issues had been “whipped up… around us in a way that is deeply, deeply damaging”.
However, Mr Humphrys, who presented Today for 32 years until 2019, suggested the corporation was out of step with the public on the issue.
“Justin has an awful lot of support within the BBC, if not in the complaints unit, and I suspect he speaks for an awful lot of people outside the BBC as well,” he told The Telegraph
“I suspect Stonewall still has rather more influence within the BBC than it does in the outside world, even since the management decided to end the formal arrangement.”
Worth reading in full.
